Will one invasive lizard eating another in Florida make West Nile, similar diseases worse?

Jim Waymer, Florida Today
·4 min read
4

Can one Florida invasive lizard preying on another that doesn't belong here lead to more mosquito bites and dangerous viruses for us all? Researchers suspect the answer might be 'yes.'

Invasive brown anoles inflict their own ills on our ecosystems. For one, this Cuban native nudges out native lizards. But when mosquitoes fill up on brown anole blood — as those wily little lizards sleep — the skeeters don't feed as much on us. So ostensibly, the risk of infecting us with West Nile or some other potentially deadly virus decreases.

Enter Peter's rock agama, now established in Brevard and 19 other Florida counties: This agama, from Africa, may slowly be wiping out the brown anole, making mosquitoes look for new blood meals — like us.

“Any time a mosquito bites a lizard, it doesn’t bite a bird or a human," said Nathan Burkett-Cadena, associate professor at University of Florida's medical entomology lab in Vero Beach. "This could result in fewer cases of mosquito-borne disease, because birds are natural hosts of some dangerous mosquito-transmitted viruses.”

The study he's leading is one of seven projects funded by a $350,000 grant from UF’s Invasion Science Research Institute. The researchers are looking into critical ecological impacts of the Peters’s rock agama.

“It’s possible that brown anole lizards have been unwittingly and unintentionally protecting us from West Nile virus and some other mosquito-transmitted diseases,” Burkett-Cadena added.

So what's University of Florida looking at?

Peters’s rock agama, an invasive species to Florida, is native to Africa. It's established in Brevard and 19 other Florida counties and is eating back brown anoles. That could mean mosquitoes bite us more often, with fewer anoles to feed on these days.
Peters’s rock agama, an invasive species to Florida, is native to Africa. It's established in Brevard and 19 other Florida counties and is eating back brown anoles. That could mean mosquitoes bite us more often, with fewer anoles to feed on these days.

Burkett-Cadena emphasizes that his study is asking a very complex question, is an inquiry in its infancy, and is pursuing a hypothesis very difficult to prove. But without nearly as many brown anoles to bite, he suspects skeeters are likely to choose more birds and more humans for their blood meals, increasing risk of spreading West Nile and other similar viral diseases.

“This battle over Florida territory by two lizard species may seem minor, given the myriad of problems that Florida faces from other invaders such as Burmese pythons,” he said. “However, this reptile rumpus could have implications for public health.”

His team of University of Florida scientists hopes to unveil the implications in their one-year study in which they'll focus on how these reptiles are influencing the spread West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis and Eastern equine encephalitis.

How did Peter's rock agama get here?

Native to East Africa and known to grow up to a foot long, the Peter's rock agama were introduced via the pet trade as either escaped or released pets. The lizard first was documented in Florida in 1976 and has since established in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Collier, Lee, Broward, Palm Beach, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard, Okeechobee, Orange, Seminole, and Volusia counties.

How did brown anoles get here?

Thought to be by far the state's most prolific lizard, the brown anole doesn't belong here, either.

They dazzle with orange flashing throat flaps, rapid-fire pushups to impress the lady lizards and intimidate male competitors,

Of Florida's 60-some-odd lizards, the brown anole is among 50 or more invaders and believed most responsible for drastic declines in the native green anole and possibly other species.

Many invasive lizards hopped on cargo ships back when trade with Cuba was common. And most are here to stay, spreading in scope and posing unknown long-term effects on the food web.

Florida has had more introductions of invasive reptile species than any other region on Earth, according to UF. There are about three times as many species of established, nonnative lizards in the state as there are native species.

Why don't we just kill all the invasive lizards?

In many cases, capturing or killing so many rapidly reproducing lizards is logistically impossible, biologists say. Florida already has at least 50 established breeding populations of nonnative lizards, ones that have been here 10 years or longer.

Can you kill a rock agama?

Yes. "Like all nonnative reptile species, agamas are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law and can be humanely killed on private property with landowner permission," FWC says. This species can be captured and humanely killed year-round and without a permit or hunting license on 32 Commission-managed lands in south Florida.

Can you own a rock agama?

Yes. They are regulated as Class III wildlife, meaning a permit is required to possess them for exhibition or sale. A permit is not required to possess them as personal pets.

What if I want to get rid of an agama or other invasive pet lizard?

Owners may surrender unwanted pet agamas through the FWC’s Exotic Pet Amnesty Program, which facilities the rehoming process for surrendered nonnative pets to qualified adopters.

Contact Waymer at (321) 261-5903 or at jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Will one exotic lizard eating another worsen mosquito-borne diseases?